chpettit19

Which promising bats? What mechanical changes do those podcasters claim they made? Yankees don't seem to have ruined that Judge fella. Gleyber Torres has a career OPS+ of 112 with only 1 season below 100. Volpe has been a little disappointing, I'll give you/them him. Austin Wells hasn't gone sour as he's one of the better hitting catchers in baseball. Jasson Dominguez still has plenty of hype around him as he gets a fulltime MLB gig this year. Trey Sweeney is set to be a key part of the Tigers lineup now. Spencer Jones is expected to debut this year. Who are "all those promising bats that went sour" for the Yankees? The glove first SS Peraza? Have they given up on Volpe already at the age of 23? The Yankees haven't hit on 100% of their prospects so they're "tweaking the heck out of" swings and "souring" hitters despite turning out numerous everyday MLB position players over the last handful of years? Or are we going all the way back to 2018 and bringing Gary Sanchez into this?

I understand your argument. I understand what we're debating about. I understand that we have difference of opinion on what makes a good leadoff hitter. What you're failing to understand is that all of baseball is telling you you're wrong. Unless you're arguing that Martin or Keirsey will be a top 4 or 5 hitter on the Twins team, you are going against all 30 MLB teams. Not just the Twins or teams that "go way overboard with weird analytics." All 30. 100% of major league baseball teams disagree with you. As for you explaining to me that Martin has great potential if the Twins just didn't manage him like every team has managed him since he was 19 years old, I understand that, too. I disagree. He's been a utility player since he was 19. He's going to turn 26 before this season starts. That's 7 years of utility work. Your "underlying condition" talk isn't based on reality. It's creating an excuse because you expected him to be better. I expected him to be better coming out of college, too. Just didn't happen. I provided you actual data and proof about why he isn't the hitter you want him to be. And it's because he can't hit the ball hard enough to scare pitchers. Major league pitchers don't walk hitters who's biggest threat is hitting a single. His struggles weren't because he played a position he's been playing for 7 years, it's because he can't impact the ball well enough to worry an MLB pitcher. I understand what you're trying to explain to me. I'm telling you you're wrong. And I'm bringing more than "I look at underlying conditions" as an explanation. I provided real world numbers and comparisons. Nick Madrigal is another one. But I was trying to be nice and use borderline or actual MLB stars to prove to you that even they don't walk at the rates you're claiming Martin could if he just played 2B because pitchers don't fear them. P.S. explain what the Yanks (or the Twins with Martin or any other team) did/does to "tweak the heck out of a swing." Explain the mechanics they're changing. Explain the actual coaching teams give. What adjustments did the Twins make to Martin's swing that you claim ruined him? Elbow placement? Stride? Hand placement? Swing path? What? Explain it. Don't just make broad brush stroke claims about "all or nothing approaches" or teams "tweaking the heck out of a swing." Explain it. Prove your point with actual baseball information. How do the Yanks "tweak the heck out of a swing?"

It's the driving factor in me wanting to see new leadership by next season. It's entirely possible they shift on a dime and Emma comes up as an everyday player or Wallner is suddenly an everyday player even with only 2 or 3 lefties on the roster. But I certainly don't see any reason to believe that'll be the case. The platoon thing seems to be a core value with this regime. I'm no scout, but his swing looks better to me this spring so far, so I'm far more hopeful now than I was during the offseason that he can bounce back. I don't know that I see his 2023 season as a realistic mark (as @Linus pointed out a .373 babip is awful high), but I have more belief now that he can be much better than last year. Still see some bumps coming, but fewer than I did coming off last season.

3. A team can carry 3 players that need to be platooned. You need 6 roster spots to cover those 3 lineup spots. 2 catchers for another lineup spot. And 5 other guys to cover the other 5 lineup spots. That's 13 position players.

Most, if not all, of us who advocate for playing the young guys 100% acknowledge that the young guys will have their bumps in the road. It's actually part of why we want them to get plenty of playing time. So you can make a determination between bump in the road and not good enough. What we disagree with is that playing more in AAA or AA or wherever in the minors is going to take those bumps in the road away. There are very, very few hitters who come up, are great, and stay great with no bumps. Like a really, really small number of hitters. The Twins give all their minor league lefties the chance to face lefties in the minors. They still don't let them do it in the majors. Matt Wallner had an OPS over .900 against lefties in AA and AAA. Over .900. Still gets platooned. Doesn't get a chance to show he can hit lefties in the majors because it isn't about time in AAA it's about their strict philosophy of trying to "win" every platoon matchup. Julien feeling he needed to dedicate his entire offseason to trying to prove he can hit lefties just to get a shot at hitting them in the majors is a failure on the Twins' part at the major league level, not in the amount of time spent in the minors. You can't adjust to major league pitching in AAA. There will always be an adjustment needed. Always. And it can't be made until you get to the majors and see what that adjustment is. Could've given Julien 5 more years in AAA and he'd still need to make the adjustment to the adjustment in the majors.

No, it didn't. It started in Tampa. And no team has ever said "to heck with defense." And "slow sluggers" have been drafted for the entire history of baseball. Some guy called Babe Ruth was pretty highly thought of back in the day and wasn't exactly setting the world on fire with his speed. Ted Williams stole 24 bases in his career, not exactly speed racer over there. David Ortiz. Kent Hrbek. Harmon Killebrew. And every hitter has always been tweaked. What do you think they do in the minors? That's literally what development is all about. It's the entire point of the minor leagues. Baseball isn't discovering that at all. Slugging is still king. Speed and defense have always been part of the equation, but slugging is still king. It's still what teams pay for. Yes, bunting and hit and runs have gone way down, but that's because the league realized they were bad strategies. I never said they were bad hitters, they just aren't as good as you're suggesting they are and they aren't good enough to hit at the top of a lineup for a team hoping to contend. The league hasn't "adjusted to the all or nothing approach." Your constant claims that the league can now get every "all or nothing" hitter out because they solved that mystery is so far off base. Each hitter has to be attacked in their own unique way. Each of their swings are different. Each of their ability to cover certain parts of the plate are different. You blindly assumed Julien was a dead pull hitter because he has an "all or nothing approach" and you are completely and utterly wrong. As I proved to you by showing you actual spray charts and proof. I can refute your "logical reasoning." I just did. Austin Martin has been playing CF for way longer than just last year. You don't like hearing that, but that's the truth. He's been a utility player since he was starring in college. Your "logical reasoning" is ignoring the actual realities of Austin Martin's career. I like Steven Kwan. I like Arraez. I like Yandy Diaz who isn't fast and doesn't slug a crazy high number. They're great hitters. You just want to put anyone who points out slugging into a bucket of "all you care about is slugging" and act like we don't look at anything else. It's nonsense. You're not the only one who "looks at underlying conditions" like that's some sort of crazy idea. Most of us do. We just don't agree with your assessments. I never said you said they were the top hitters on the club, I said that's what MLB teams use at the top of their order now and that's why Martin and Keirsey don't belong there. You never use stats or proof of anything because it rarely ever backs up your statements. I've given you the stats for hitters at the top of the lineup for the league. You're ignoring that and telling me "only the crazy analytical teams" follow that plan. Well, first off, EVERY team is a "crazy analytical team." They all follow this stuff. Every. Single. One. And, second, I showed you the data that proves you're wrong. Teams take their best hitters and put them at the top of the order. All of them. It's why the top 5 spots in the order for MLB have OPS's over .700 while the rest don't. It's why the most used leadoff hitters in baseball have wRC+ that average 130. It's why leadoff hitters are the 4th highest slugging lineup spot in baseball. This is how the league does it. Not just the Twins. You are wrong about it just being certain teams following the Yankees (especially because the Yankees didn't start it!). Suggesting the Twins put somebody who isn't one of the top hitters in the leadoff spot is going against baseball as a whole, not just the Twins. Provide actual stats and proof to disprove my actual stats and proof or just admit you're asking the Twins to do something nobody else in the league is doing. I'll save you the work on Kwan, he was the 2nd best hitter on the Guardians last year. Even those scrappy little guys put their best hitters at the top of their lineup. Luis Arraez is probably your best argument as he had a down year so he was the 5th best hitter amongst the Padres regulars. But he's typically a 130 wRC+ hitter. Dang, exactly the same as the best leadoff hitters in baseball. I'm not denying Keirsey hasn't been given a chance, but Martin got 93 games with the Twins last year. You also act like these 2 have torn the minors apart. They haven't. They've been above average, but neither of them were putting up Wallner, Emma, Jenkins, Eeles, Keaschall type performances. That's the truth.

Lewis spent all offseason working out at 2B. He has no problem with playing 2B. He didn't want to be moved to a new spot he'd never played in the middle of a playoff race last year and prefers to just be left at 1 position throughout the season. Him (and his agent, for that matter) have been very open about him moving to 2B if that was the best fit for the team. Just just doesn't want to be bounced around once the season starts.

Fixing his inability to hit breaking balls is absolutely the right step for him to take at this point. But it makes my skin crawl to read an article suggesting a left handed hitter in the Twins organization is simply wasting his time by even trying to learn to hit lefties better. The Twins have a couple lefties on the national radar headed to Minneapolis in a hurry. Is it also a waste for them to try to show the team they can hit lefties? They have a lefty with back to back seasons of an OPS over .875. Is it also a waste for him to try to show the team he can hit lefties? The statements and ideas in this article are the big worry for a number of us. You have 3 potential stars on cheap deals either here or soon to be here. Are you just automatically going to turn them all into platoon players? If so, trade them. Just get an all right handed lineup and get it over with. And give them a chance to go to a team that will let them reach their full potential. "But baseball is a game of roles, and part of reaching your full potential is understanding what the team needs from you, not just what you want for yourself." I couldn't disagree more with this statement. If my full potential is being an everyday player who just so happens to hit from the left side but can still mash lefties if given the chance then the team platooning me is them actively holding me back from my full potential. And I'd want out. Immediately.

Of Twins hitters with at least 200 PAs last year Martin was 9th out of 15 in BB%. That isn't because he was forced to play a position he's played since college. It's because he isn't a threat with the bat so no major league pitcher fears him. You're looking at the wrong underlying condition. Because you don't want slug to matter. Well, it does. A lot. If a pitcher's biggest fear about throwing you a strike is that you may hit a single he's going to throw you a lot of strikes. Martin's walk rate was 7.8%. Steven Kwan's (the guy you should hope Martin can become) was 9.8%. Arraez was 3.1%. Steven Kwan was 10th in all of baseball in chase rate. Meaning only 9 hitters in the entire league chased pitches less than him. He was 73rd in BB%. Simply not chasing pitches in the bigs doesn't earn you crazy amounts of walks if you're not a power threat with the bat. And Kwan actually did what the Twins tried to teach Martin and hit for pull power early in counts last year. Pitchers are smarter. The league is smarter. They will come right after you in the zone if you can't make them pay for it. Your dream of Austin Martin being a .400 OBP guy is simply not realistic. And it's not because he played CF. It's because he can't slug. As much as you hate to hear it.

You're not paying attention to the league if you're continuing to push this Martin or Keirsey narrative. I gave you the numbers. Put your best 4 hitters at the top of the order. Everybody does it. How you line them up can be according to who runs if you want. Martin and Keirsey are never going to be better hitters than Lewis, Buxton, Correa, Larnach, Wallner, or Miranda. That doesn't even include Rodriguez, Jenkins, Keaschall, Lee or a possible Julien bounce back. They're never going to be one of the team's top 4 hitters. Never. So giving them the most PAs on the team is simply a bad idea. Leadoff guys used to need to be table setters who ran. And 2 hole hitters used to be Nick Punto or Alexi Casilla slap hitters who moved runners. Then the league realized they were giving their best hitters far fewer opportunities to impact the game and they changed. You're behind the times and advocating for the Twins to actively hurt their offense. Martin and Keirsey are 9 hole type hitters setting the table for the lineup to roll over and get back to their best hitters. Weighing the first inning so aggressively to put your table setter in the 1 hole is bad strategy. And the entire league agrees. Give your best hitters the most chances. Line them up however you want in the top 4 or 5 spots, but give them as many PAs as possible. Martin and Keirsey haven't been held back from being top 4 hitters, they just aren't as good as the other players. And I like them. Want them on the team over the $4 to $11 million vets they bring in. But they aren't top 4 hitters. No matter what position they play.

Why would the Twins want a "traditional" leadoff hitter? This "crazy ideology" isn't the Twins', it's baseball's. The 10 players with the most PAs as leadoff hitters last year had an average wRC+ of 130 while hitting leadoff. Marcus Semien was the worst at 100, followed by Arraez at 108. That's a severe down year for both of them. The other 8 go 116, 123, 128, 129, 131, 136, 159, 167. Add in the Dodgers splitting their leadoff spot between Betts (153 wRC+) and Ohtani (188 OPS+) and there is plenty of data to show your desire for Martin or Keirsey to leadoff is the "crazy ideology." By OPS, leadoff hitters were the 3rd best hitters on teams last year. 3 hole hitters had an OPS of .777, 2 hole .755, leadoff .739, 4 hole .737, 5 hole .715 and everyone else below .700. Leadoff hitters had the 4th highest slug of any lineup spot. Behind 3 hole, 2 hole, 4 hole. HRs by lineup spot go in the same order. 3rd best wRC+ by lineup spot. OBP goes 3 hole .335, leadoff .327, 2 hole .326. If Austin Martin or DaShawn Keirsey are one of the Twins 4 best hitters this, or any, year either they have blown expectations out of the water to historic levels or the Twins offense is in real trouble.

What defines a "legitimate lead off hitter?" That's kind of the point of this article. Do you mean "classic leadoff hitter?" Because that the Twins lack, but they don't lack for "legitimate lead off hitters." The game has changed. Kyle Schwarber, Mookie Betts, Ronald Acuna Jr, Shohei Ohtani, Gunnar Henderson, Marcus Semien, Yandy Diaz, Francisco Lindor. These are the leadoff hitters of today. Just flat out good hitters. The Twins have some flat out good hitters. Like Matt Wallner.

Hey hey, now we're thinking. Now we're getting into the good stuff. MLB Totals: Total PA- With Runners On- With RISP 17196-7212-4237 Per team totals 573-240-141 Percentages 42% with runners on 25% with runners in scoring position

Lineup construction is fascinating to me. It's so dependent on the team/lineup as a whole where guys hit. Slap hitting fast guys batting leadoff is mostly a thing of the past. Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Schwarber, Ronald Acuna Jr, Jarren Duran, Jose Altuve, Marcus Semien, Yandy Diaz, Gunnar Henderson, Fransisco Lindor, George Springer, Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte, Gleyber Torres, Jazz Chisholm Jr, Lawrence Butler. Each of those guys had at least 56 games and 265 PAs in the leadoff spot last year (except Acuna because he was hurt, but he's been a leadoff hitter for years). They're also all guys you expect to do just as much, if not more, slugging than running. Even Steven Kwan worked on adding more power to his game last year and hit more HRs that season (14) than he had his first 2 combined (11). Slugged .425 instead of the .384 he'd slugged the first 2 combined. Teams are so much more advanced in how they make out lineups now. I don't mind Wallner in the leadoff spot. I also wouldn't mind Buxton, Correa, or Lewis. Larnach against righties is fine with me. Miranda wouldn't be the end of the world. Good Julien makes sense. I'm very much against the Martin and Castro types, though. As the end of the game roles around and the lineup turns over with the game on the line I don't want those guys getting the ABs, I want the big guns getting them. Martin and Castro in the 9 hole to provide some speed in front of the big boppers? Cool. But I don't want them getting more ABs than any of the superior hitters. That's also the reason I dislike the idea of putting your platoon bats at the top. Not the end of the world, but I don't think it's the best strategy. Because when you pinch hit for them later you're not getting the full value of that pinch hitter because of the "tax" of coming in cold. Pinch hitters perform worse than their norms. I don't think a set lineup is necessary at all. Your spot in the order doesn't change your job when you get up there to hit. Know who you are as a hitter, know the situation, and perform. That's the job no matter what. Leadoff hitters taking pitches they should swing at to start a game is bad strategy. Putting yourself in a hole in the count is worse than an extra 2 or 3 pitches your guys can see from the side. Getting on base is your job, not taking pitches. If the 9 hole hitter comes up in the 6th with 2 outs and a guy on 2nd his job is the same as if he were the 4 hole hitter in the first inning with 2 outs and a guy on 2nd. Get the runner in or keep the inning going so the next guy can get them in. Get your best hitters the most PAs. Who your best hitter is will change throughout the year so knowing when to move people up and down the order is the trick. But, at its core, lineup construction is quite simple. Get the best guys you have to the plate as often as possible.

For everyone's reference, here's the number of PAs each spot in the order got in MLB as a whole in different situations last year (according to Fangraphs splits leaderboards): Total PAs-PAs with runners on-PAs with runners in scoring position 1- 22350 -7495- 4493 2- 21833 -9129- 4944 3- 21356 -9638- 5431 4- 20838 -10032- 5842 5- 20303 -8820- 5365 6- 19793 -8648- 4848 7- 19254 -8620- 4898 8- 18660 -8391- 4925 9- 18062 -7870- 4755 Everything divided by 30 to get it in more meaningful per team numbers: 1- 745- 250- 150 2- 728- 304- 165 3- 712- 321- 181 4- 695- 334- 195 5- 677- 294- 179 6- 660- 288- 162 7- 642- 287- 163 8- 622- 280- 164 9- 602- 262- 159 Percentage of PAs with runners on-with runners in scoring position: 1- 34%- 20% 2- 42%- 23% 3- 45%- 25% 4- 48%- 28% 5- 43%- 26% 6- 44%- 24% 7- 45%- 25% 8- 45%- 26% 9- 44%- 26% Make what you will of these numbers. Just wanted to give some info.

They're an interesting mix of aggressive and slow. Lee, Keaschall, Matthews, Jenkins to an extent, Emma to an extent, and Eeles (and probably more, those are just off the top of my head) have all been pushed relatively quickly through the system, in my opinion. But, and I think we agree here, the Twins slam on the breaks most of the time before debuting guys as they're far more likely to go with veterans and make rookies wait for injury openings. Sometimes multiple injuries. To me, their decisions at the major league level are based too much on their expectations for the season/"the plan" from the offseason. I don't think many people would argue that they don't like to make drastic changes to their major league roster other than to fill in for injuries. That appears to be them refusing to give up any "depth." That decision making process has a natural effect on the minors as eventually there's nowhere left to send guys. If the guys at AAA can't get to the majors then the guys at AA can't get to AAA and so on. They are more willing to drop their veteran AAA depth they like to start the year with, but eventually you fill AAA with Keirsey, Helman, Martin, etc. types that you don't want to just cut because they are solid AAA depth but you also aren't willing to move on from the Gallo, Margot, Farmer types in the majors so everything comes to a stop. And you never really get a look at those depth guys to see if they can replace your low- to mid-priced vets because you didn't cut those vets when they were terrible. And I'd argue that's the bigger problem. Sticking to "the plan" at the major league level. I'll start by saying I didn't mind the trade at all at the time, but the Mahle trade is an interesting example. What if, instead of trading Steer who was having a good year in AAA you call him up? I don't know if the Reds demanded Steer and there was no other option, but, if I recall correctly, there were a number of us wanting to see him debut. He ended up playing 23 AAA games for Cinci before debuting. And the Twins watched their season crumble because they didn't have anyone to play the OF which Steer has done. The Twins preferred to go with Kyle Garlick that season. He'd started the year in AAA then put up a .717 OPS (102 OPS+) in 66 games from April through the end of the year because they wanted him to hit against just lefties as much as possible. What if they skipped their veteran short side platoon bat and went with Steer? Steer isn't a star, but he's been a league minimum player that would've saved us from Margot last year and for sure Luplow if not Gallo in 2023. Give me the same production for the league minimum instead of 4 to 11 mil. I think this regime is more aggressive in promoting prospects through the system than the TR times. But their over reliance on "the plan" and extra trust in vets causes ripple effects.

I read the article on The Athletic and he doesn't come across as super believable. I'll wait until MLB releases their findings, but it's hard to believe he didn't do this. He seems like a young man who doesn't quite have his head on straight and is a little too head strong for his own good. What's the motivation to do this interview now? Against the advice of your agents that gets you cut from their company, too. If MLB comes out and says they couldn't prove anything so he's allowed to sign with any team, how does it look to the teams when it comes to trusting his judgement? And the article mentions him getting into arguments with the Twins development coaches before the day in question as well. This is now all out there hurting his reputation more. He's too prideful or immature or head strong or whatever it is and has dug himself a deeper hole with this.

I didn't say it'd hurt, but starting in AAA isn't going to hurt him either. Diego Cartaya? The guy who got promoted to AAA? Kala'i Rosario? The guy likely to get promoted to AAA awfully quick this year? Jeferson Morales? The guy who got promoted to AAA? 2 of the 3 guys you listed got promoted to AAA already. I'm really confused by your point. He was better than multiple other players who've already been promoted but his performance isn't good enough to be promoted? It's not the end of the world if he starts the year at AA, but it's also not unrealistic to say he should be in AAA if not the majors. Here's my 3 names: Michael Harris II, Jackson Merrill, Zach Neto. Harris: OPS of .878 in 43 games/196 PAs in AA before going directly to the majors while skipping AAA completely. Merrill: OPS of .782 in 46 games/211 PAs in AA before skipping AAA and debuting at a position he'd never played in his life on opening day for a team dead set on taking down the Dodgers for a division crown and making a World Series run. At the age of 20. Neto: OPS of .874 in 30 games/136 PAs in his drafted year in AA. 7 games/34 PAs in AA with an OPS of 1.374 in his next year. Total of 37 games/170 PAs and an OPS of .968 before playing 4 games and getting 16 PAs in AAA and debuting on April 15th of the year after he was drafted. 100ish pts higher on his OPS in AA but lower OPS than Emma. No, I don't believe in promoting everyone who's OPS'd >.800 in AA automatically, but I watched a lot of Keaschall last year and he's better than that level. Just like Harris, Merrill, and Neto were. Teams don't base their promotions on just looking at the stat line until it hits a certain number. And they don't make their top prospects go station to station half year to a year at a time through the system. The other poster suggested Luke spending half the year in AA then moving up and eventually getting a cup of coffee in the bigs. That may be how it goes, but then he's not as good as we hoped. Or the Twins are holding him back. Big time prospects skip, or essentially skip, levels all the time. They don't need massive OPS numbers and 100 games played at each level.

Jose Miranda played 2145.1 innings at 3B in the minors. 1395 at 2B. 284 at SS. Only 251.1 of those innings came after he debuted. There's no reason at all to think him being handed the 3B job in 2023 after having played 34 games and 246.2 innings at 3B in the majors in 2022 has caused his injury problems. You can't just move everyone who gets hurt to 1B. And not playing 1B doesn't cause injuries.

If he's as good as I think, and we all hope, he is he should be getting much more than a cup of coffee in the bigs. He shouldn't spend half a season in AA. He shouldn't have to go back there at all. 59 games and 267 PAs is more than enough to know he's concurred that level. He's back and playing already. The injury shouldn't mean he has to go back to a level he's concurred when the injury isn't a concern anymore. Guys debut in the majors with fewer PAs than that at AA. I'm not saying he should be on the opening day roster (unless he's clearly the best option during spring), but he's proven he's better than AA. He should start in AAA and be ready to take the first opening at 2B, 1B, or any OF spot. Most definitely shouldn't be spending half a season in AA.

I think he's in the race with Emma and Jenkins for CF for 80+ games a year when Buxton is hurt. 2B may well be his best position, but he can run and could certainly steal an OF spot depending on how the rest of the roster shakes out over the next couple years.

Who are the players? Kirilloff from the day he was drafted had most scouts and analysts saying he'd be an above average, maybe even gold glove, 1B if they'd put him there. But the Twins had holes in the OF so they bounced him back and forth. Who were the other players? Played in the majors where? 1B? Were they 30-year-old journeymen who weren't ever going to be a real part of the Twins? Tomas Telis, Damek Tomscha, Sherman Johnson, Jose Miranda, Roberto Pena, Willians Astudillo, Zander Wiel, Caleb Hamilton, Travis Blankenhorn, Brent Rooker, Ryan Jeffers. Those are the 11 guys who played 1B for the Saints in 2021. "Eight played in the majors" is missing all the important context. Jeffers is a catcher who was getting extra ABs by playing some 1B because he wasn't going to catch everyday. Rooker is a worse defender than Larnach or Wallner and they were trying to find any place he could play on the field. Blankenhorn is a utility player who only played in the majors because he was a utility guy. Same with Willians. Miranda was a corner IFer so, yeah, he played a lot at 1B. Telis was a catcher/1B trying to claw his way back to the bigs. Outside of Miranda, Jeffers, and Rooker none of those guys were players with any real chance of being part of the Twins future. Miranda was a corner IFer, Jeffers was a catcher, and Rooker was the least good cOFer between him, Larnach, and Wallner. That's why they didn't play 1B. I never said everyone can play a passable 1B. In fact, I said I didn't know if they could, but plenty of guys get placed there. I didn't mean "dumping grounds" as some sort of disrespectful statement, and I think you know that. Pujols and Cabrera are 1st ballot Hall of Famers who got dumped at 1B because they weren't the best options for their teams at other positions. I listed them and called them "some of the biggest stars the game has ever seen." But 1B is the bottom of the defensive spectrum and it's where teams dump guys who get pushed off other spots by better fielders.

Who were the 8 or 9 guys that played there? Minor league filler? Even worse defenders than Larnach and Wallner? Larnach and Wallner were high picks and were going to get every opportunity to earn a job in the Twins outfield. People complain nonstop here that the Twins need to put guys in the position they're going to play in the majors and let them perfect it. That's what the Twins did with these 2. And it's what they should have done as the Twins outfield has had openings for years and getting these guys prepared to fill them was the obvious decision. But when the landscape of the team changes players need to move. It happens all the time. Go look at the Padres' starting lineup and see how many guys changed positions in the majors. Shoot, their starting CFer had never played off the dirt until spring training last year and they handed him an opening day job as a 20-year-old in a new position. The Twins didn't need to move Larnach and Wallner in the minors, but if/when Emma and Jenkins (and even Keashall is an OF possibility) arrive Larnach and Wallner may not be the best options at their positions and they'd have to move. Fernando Tatis Jr moved from SS to RF in the majors despite never having played the OF in his minor league career. Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols came up as LFers and got moved around to multiple positions (RF, 3B, and 1B) as young players before moving over to 1B permanently. Mookie Betts played 36 innings in RF in AAA before moving to RF at the major league level because of the makeup of the Red Sox (he wasn't displacing Pedroia at 2B). I don't know if Julien, Larnach, Wallner, or any of the minor league guys I named can be studs, average, passable, or what at 1B, but 1B has long been the dumping ground for slow defenders with big bats that get pushed out of corner OF spots. MLB players get moved onto and off the dirt all the time. Including some of the biggest stars the game as ever seen. Bryce Harper moved from RF to 1B. Spencer Steer has moved all over for Cinci, including 1B despite just 17 innings there in the minors. Moving random guys to 1B is something every team does. And have been doing forever. Moving players around as needed to give them the best team they can is something every team does. And have been doing forever. Larnach and Wallner are athletic dudes. I'd bet they can learn to play 1B at a passable level.

I'm not all that worried about 1B. If Miranda can stay healthy I think he hits. He's hit very well in the majors whenever he's healthy. Whether or not he can stay healthy is my only concern for him (super weird on this roster, I know). I really liked France a couple years ago and actually stated on this very site that I thought the Twins should go get him last year as a good bounce back candidate. He didn't bounce back. Was it just the heal or is he truly in decline? I don't like the low value veteran contracts the Twins hand out as a core part of their team building strategy, but if France can bounce back some he's a decent enough player with a ceiling of really good bat if he totally comes back. Wouldn't bet on that, but the possibility is there. As for the other options/prospects, pick a player. They're all options. It's the bottom of the defensive spectrum. No, I'm not saying that that means it doesn't matter or defense doesn't matter or that it's super easy to be good there or whatever, but it is the easiest defensive position to fill. Meaning you need the least amount of athletic ability/tools to fill it. You don't need to be fast or have a good arm or any of the stuff you need (or at least really want) at the other positions. I don't like the idea of Lewis moving over there at all. Waste of his athleticism and arm (just fix his throwing motion and get him more accurate with his throws). Don't like Keaschall, Castro, Correa, Buxton, Emma, Jenkins, etc. types there either. Waste of all their athleticism and skills. But pick any of our many questionable defenders and put them there. Larnach or Wallner or Julien, anyone. And if you've filled the other 6 spots (non-catchers) with the athletic types with good arms then put the 7th athletic guy at 1B. Not having a big time 1B prospect isn't terrible. It generally just means you don't have a guy with a huge bat and no real defensive skills (or he's a slow lefty thrower you don't want in the OF). The Twins have some big bat prospects that could be plopped there if they wanted to, but, despite the cries of mismanagement on this site, moving guys down the spectrum as they advance through the system and the needs of your team change and their ability to field other spots becomes more clear is what every MLB team does because it's the smart thing to do. Maybe Kala'i Rosario or Rayne Doncon or Billy Amick or Gabriel Gonzalez have things click with their bats and are the 1B of the future because they aren't good enough defenders elsewhere to beat out the other guys on the depth chart. Every prospect that can hit is a 1B prospect.

Every team focuses on launch angle, exit velo, and pulling the ball. Every. Single. One. That doesn't mean that's all they want their players to do and doesn't mean that's all guys are trying to do. Julien is not a dead pull hitter by any means. That spray chart doesn't show him "not able to pull some pitches," it shows him not wanting to. The left center gap is his target most of the time. This is Isaac Paredes' spray chart. This is a guy just looking to pull the ball who is "not able to pull some pitches." They're very different approaches.